1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system, an image forming method and an information terminal device in which data communications are made between electronic equipment which are mutually connected through plural communication lines, and more particularly to an image forming system, an image forming method and an information terminal device in which mutual communications between electronic equipment can be performed by using information obtained through each communication line for data communications using another communication line.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been developed various connection methods as communication means between electronic equipment in these years, and their typical examples include a network connection that realizes data communications by handling plural devices as nodes on a network and a P2P (Peer to Peer) connection that directly connects electronic equipment mutually. Especially, the P2P connection has a transmission speed considerably higher than that of a conventional P2P connection method, and data formats which can be processed are in various types and a large volume of data can be sent and received at a time.
While the network connection allows mutual communications between plural electronic equipment, the P2P connection is a local connection and can generally execute high-speed data communications with stability secured higher than the LAN connection.
As examples of the P2P connection, peripheral equipment such as a digital camera and a printer and a scanner and a printer are mutually connected by means of a USB (Universal Serial Bus). Among the USB connections, the connection by means of USB 2.0 high speed can realize a maximum transmission speed of 480 Mbps (Mega bit per second), so that large volumes of data can be transmitted at a high speed.
The USB can be supplied with power from the connected electronic equipment, so that it has advantages that a space for the device can be saved, and the usability can be improved.
Thus, a connection method suitable for usage can be selected. For example, where image data taken in a high-definition processing mode is transferred to a printer, communications can be made safely and at a higher speed by performing data communications by means of the USB 2.0 high-speed connection than by the network connection because a data size is large. On the other hand, where data communications are made with plural nodes at a time, the network connection is superior to the local connection.
According to a connection method that electronic equipment is connected by plural communication means of the network connection and the local connection, it is recognized as different electronic equipment by the individual communication means. In other words, one electronic equipment is recognized as different electronic equipment by the individual communication means. For example, where a scanner and a printer are mutually connected by two communication means, the network connection and the USB connection which is a local connection, the printer is managed as network connection printer and USB connection printer according to the system management by the scanner.
Therefore, the data communications between the electronic equipment having plural communication means have a disadvantage that the working efficiency drops because a connection process is executed by each of the communication means and a data format according to the specifications of each communication means must be used.
In order to have the electronic equipment, which is recognized as different electronic equipment by the individual communication means, recognized as one and the same, there are problems that registration by an administrator is required and re-registration must be made every time there is a change.
There is disclosed as a related art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-349803 that a non-IP peripheral device, which is not allotted an IP address necessary for network communications and cannot be connected directly to the Internet, can be accessed remotely through the Internet.
According to the related art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-349803, a gateway device holds an IP (Internet Protocol) address management table which stores a controlled product as a non-IP peripheral device at home and an IP address allotted to the controlled product in correspondence with each other, the IP address is identified from the Internet data received through the Internet, and data can be sent to the controlled product corresponding to the IP address identified according to the IP address management table.
But, the related art described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-349803 has problems that a storage area for storing the IP address management table is required, a larger storage area is required as the controlled product increases, and the storage region is cluttered, resulting in decreasing the processing speed because the controlled product which cannot be connected directly to the Internet and the IP address of the controlled product must be registered in the IP address management table.
There are also problems that the gateway device is required to realize communications, and when it is desired to connect to a single controlled product, not only convenience cannot be enjoyed but it is necessary to maintain the management table and the network, and productivity is disturbed.
Generally, according to the communication method that electronic equipment are mutually connected by plural communication means such as a network connection and a local connection, communications can be made by the individual communication means, and data communications can be realized according to the characteristics of the communication means.
But, this communication method has problems that because the electronic equipment connected as described above is recognized as different electronic equipment by the individual communication means, a registration operation by an administrator is required to have the electronic equipment, which is judged different by the individual communication means, recognized as one and the same in order to realize seamless communications beyond the constraints of the communication means, and the working efficiency is degraded.